Building my TI-Raleigh Team Pro 753 (…and the other SBDU Ilkeston bikes I've collected along the way…)
TI-Raleigh Team Pro 753 SB6398 (1984)
All of the 50th Anniversary parts that I’ve carefully and patiently cleaned over the last couple of weeks have been re-united with the SBDU Ilkeston 753R frame that they came from. I’ve had a few things on lately so it has taken a little while to get focused on this build again, but all the prep and cleaning has meant a quick and painless build.
I’m well on the way to getting every part of this build back to their very best. Part three was all about the components of the 50th anniversary group, and putting the shine back onto them. There were two main components that I left out of that post, they were the hubs and the brake levers – the bar tape and brake lever hoods have made me think the most, leaving me in a bit of a quandary.
Part three is here..! That means I finally get to work with the Campagnolo Super Record 50th Anniversary group.
Part one was frame prep, the foundation of the build. Part two was fitting the head set and bottom bracket; joining the frame and forks together, the starting point to which all other parts are fitted.
Part two of the build to restore SB6398… and all that frame prep in part one will pay off now when I fit the head set and bottom bracket.
Here it is, the time has finally come…
It’s time to build SB6398. The end result of this build will be a bike that is 100% original, exactly the same as when it left the work stand of Denton Cycles back in 1984. It will only be the slight patina to the paint and parts that may give its age away.
This bike has had a lot of attention on the Internet since I acquired it and I’m not surprised, it is a rather special machine. I’ve purposely taken my time with it and waited patiently until I was ready to get to grips with taking it apart. I think this bike deserves a full nut and bolt restoration and I want to keep every single one of those nuts and bolts – nothing is going to get replaced. Everything on this bike will be removed, checked, cleaned and re-fitted.
There are just too many things to describe on this bike. I actually had trouble thinking of a shorter blog title! It is everything I could ever want to find in a bike, it ticks so many boxes; and it all became reality in the space of a few hours on a Saturday evening.
